


The Faint Light of the Brightest Stars

by WhoopsOK



Series: Damp [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Age Play, Fluff, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Road Trips, Stand Alone, WAFF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 03:31:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8561908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhoopsOK/pseuds/WhoopsOK
Summary: "They’ve never really talked about this before, Dean himself had never really considered it and he finds the idea a little harrowing. Dean knows life outside the bunker, that’s where he’s spends most of his adult life. The world outside the bunker is full of stuff that made him the way he is, and he isn’t sure he wants any of that touching his little self or his baby Cassie. He isn’t sure it won’t scare him."
(Sam takes his littles on a day trip.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> I spent a good bit of last week crying or trying not to. I know a lot of other people did as well. So I want something sweet and soft and happy and kind. There’s fighting to be done, I know that, and even if it’s gonna hurt, I know it’s a fight we can win. But you don’t have to fight tonight, ok? Cry and scream. Lay around and eat too much. Read fan fiction and watch cartoons. Hug whatever nice thing you can get your arms around. It’s gonna be a long ride, lovelies. Don’t feel bad for charging yourselves up before you go.

Sammy wants to leave the bunker.

They’ve never really talked about this before, Dean himself had never really considered it and he finds the idea a little harrowing. Dean _knows_ life outside the bunker, that’s where he’s spends most of his adult life. The world outside the bunker is full of stuff that made him the way he is, and he isn’t sure he wants any of that touching his little self or his baby Cassie. He isn’t sure it won’t scare him.

But more than anything, Dean, grown-up or little, trusts his Sammy.

Sammy has never let anything bad happen to him or Cassie. Sammy is the brains, the plans A through Z3 guy; Sammy is smart and strong and Sammy loves them very much. Sammy won’t let anything bad happen to them, so Dean and Cas will go where he asks.

He promises them he won’t be mad if they can’t or don’t want to. He promises if they can’t be little when they get there, that it’s all still fine. They’re going to have a nice time together no matter what. He is gentle and sweet and doesn’t ask more than they’re willing to try. So sure, they’ll do this; they’ll take that shot.

They sleep in and eat breakfast in their pajamas while they try to wheedle an answer out of Sammy about where they’re going. Sam tells them the moon and then Bikini Bottom and then Willy Wonka’s Candy Factory, all with such genuine seriousness that Dean starts getting pouty. Sam smiles sweetly at him, giving him another pancake and ruffling his hair. Cassie is well and snug down into little space, Dean can tell in he way he’s getting clingy and shy, blushing and smiling whenever Sam speaks to him. Dean still feels a little grown-up, but he can tell he’s getting a little soft inside. It doesn’t bother him that Sam is talking to him like he’s a child; he wants Sam to keep doing it, keep petting him.

Sam dresses them in some play clothes, the comfy ones they like best. Dean feels weird to have on sneakers with his bright red overalls even before Sam leads him outside. He looks over at Castiel, at the green shorts and blue shirt – that says “Sweet as honey!” and has bees and long sleeves that hook over Castiel’s thumbs – and tries to calm his own jittering nerves.

The impala feels different from the back seat as Sam actually pauses to buckle them both in, kissing their faces as he does. Dean holds Cassie’s hand and fiddles with the edge of his shorts, nearly confused by the sight of his own bare legs against the leather seat.

Dean so distracted that he doesn’t even quite realize he’s actually slipping at first, just that he’s feeling really good.

Sam is driving and controlling the radio without any protest (which should’ve been a sign enough), but he’s still giving them the run around about where they’re headed. Dean can’t quite keep up with the direction they’re going, there’re too many things down this road for him to pinpoint one. He finds it all big and murky and finally just stops thinking about it; for the first time in a long time, he just _stops_. It finally clicks how little he’s getting when he looks over to see Castiel sucking his pacifier and bobbing his head as Dean hums _You Belong with Me_. He doesn’t let himself get embarrassed, especially not when Sam starts to sing with him and Castiel giggles.

Their Little Playlist is full of all the Disney classics and pop trash Dean normally complains about, but actually knows all the words to. Somewhere in the middle of their singing along and playing Yellow Car and iSpy, Dean loses track of the idea that they are actually _going_ anywhere until Sam turns off onto a winding dirt road without any cars to watch.

The road ends in a clearing with a few other cars and that makes Dean a little nervous, even as Castiel continues to hum _You Got a Friend in Me_. “Sammy…” he whines softly, finding Castiel’s hand again.

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Sammy says, smiling comfortingly as he twists around to park. “They’re not going to bother us. You’re safe with me always, no question.” He grabs a backpack out of the passenger seat and gets out of the car.

Dean still feels his tummy turning a little, but if Sammy says it’s ok, it’s ok. He’ll be a big boy for Cassie, too. He looks over, Castiel staying wide eyed at cardinal standing atop a jeep before turning to look at Dean. His eyes are less frightened and more anxious; he wants to go see, but he can tell Dean is nervous.

“We’ll stay close, yea?” Dean promises, then rubs their noses together.

Cassie hums and nods as Sam comes around to let them out of the car.

“Come on, then,” Sam says, locking the door before taking their hands. “You guys are going to love it.”

Sam leads them down a footpath off to the left, chatting absently. A lot of what he tells them are things they already know, but are comforting to hear in his Big voice when they are little and nervous. He points out all the plants and animals he can name, Castiel eventually dropping his hand to point to all the different kinds of leaves along the trail. Sam stops him just short of trying to touch a squirrel. Dean is a little quiet, but Sam knows how to Deal with uneasy little babies and Dean can’t hold his tongue when Sam starts making up crazy facts about plants. His nervousness fades the longer his hand stays in Sam’s.

Eventually, the path turns and Dean’s eyes light up when he catches the sound of running water. Sam is already smiling when he turns to him expectantly.

“Oh yeah,” Sam says and then “don’t get in yet, Dee!” when Dean takes off running. The trees are pretty thick before stopping abruptly on the soggy grass that ran along the side of the creek. The creek is shallow and running slowly enough for moss to be gathered on all the rocks and pebbles. Dean steps out of his shoes, grinning and flexing his toes in the mud. He giggles a little giddily.

“It’s going to be slippery,” Sam says when he and Cas make it down the long way. “So be careful not to fall.”

“Ok, Sammy!” Dean agrees excitedly, “Can I—?”

“Take your overalls and top off,” he says, already folding Castiel’s up over his head. “You’re wearing the good undies for a reason.”

In his rush to get undressed, Dean gets stuck in his own overalls.

“If you get mud on them, I’m gonna be unhappy!” Sam warns lightheartedly, folding Castiel’s clothes on top of his backpack. Dean groans but slows down, keeping his clothes away from the muck.

The water is a little chilled this time of year, but not cold enough to keep Castiel from wading in carefully. The pebbles under his feet are smooth and he gets so focused looking down at the leaves rushing past his feet that he isn’t prepared for Dean to jump in the water beside him. He shrieks, both amused and indignant, rubbing the water out of his face.

“Play gentle with the baby!” Sam calls, from where he’s rolling his pants up to his knees, but Dean and Castiel are already jumping around, kicking water at each other. Sam just shakes his head fondly.

Dean climbs up onto a boulder, loudly declaring himself king of the swamp, before Sam tells him to get down before he falls. Castiel finds four different kinds of rocks and “rescues” a frog before it can escape, bringing them all over to Sam to ooh and ahh over. Dean sits down and splashes in the water, singing _Under the Sea_ at the top of his lungs until Castiel comes over and makes him stand up and dance. Sam and Dean have a sword fight in the middle of the river with branches over Princess Cassie’s hand, during which Sam falls dramatically into the river. Castiel splashes over to him and Sam offers him a leaf “to remember our love” before crossing his eyes in death.

When Castiel whines a little, Dean is quick to say, “A kiss! If you give him a kiss, he’ll wake back up!”

Castiel gives Dean the leaf before leaning down to plant a kiss on Sam’s lips, then again right on his nose.

Sam gasps, blinking up at them. “Cassie, you saved me!” he exclaims and Castiel grins at him.

“Sammy!” he exclaims, splashing the water with both hands and kissing him again, causing them all to laugh.

“Wait!” Dean says, “Does that mean we can both marry the princess?”

Castiel babbles something incoherent, nodding. He looks around himself, then picks up two rocks. He shines them on his bare tummy before handing one to each of them, grinning proudly.

“That’s very sweet of you, Cassie,” Sam says as he sits up, clothes he didn’t mean to even play in dripping wet. “I’d love to! I’ll hold Dean’s in my pocket, too, so we don’t lose it, ok?” When both his littles agree, he puts the pebbles in the pocket right over his heart.

When they get up to leave the creek, Sam doesn’t even make them put their clothes back on, tying their shoes to his bag. After they pee in a little hole behind a tree and he wipes their paws with baby wipes, he let’s them run on ahead. He tells them to turn down a smaller path after a few minutes of them stumbling along, Castiel listening intently to Dean talking about the castle they’re going to build for all of them. With its tall walls and stuffies and good food; full of love and warmth, forever and always.

Sam is feeling out of himself with how sweet it is, watching his boys – damp and covered in dirt and moss, yes, but somehow that makes them even livelier. They belong here, in the middle of all these living things; beyond complex but still heartbreakingly simplistic. His.

They feel him staring and turn; whatever they see in his face makes them smile, flushed, and come back to his sides, as always. With his damp shirt tied around his waist, Dean latches on to his arm and Castiel’s face presses into his bare side.

“You’re the king, ‘cause you’re the boss,” Dean explains brightly, “I’m gonna be the prince!”

Sam ruffles his hair, “Oh yeah?”

Castiel hums, nodding and rubbing his face against Sam’s ribs.

“Yeah!” Dean agrees, giving him a salute. “What is your first order as king?”

Sam puts his hand on his chin, humming in thought. When he sees their destination, he smiles. “Well, we have to eat lunch…” he muses, “but the first person to the top of that hill can sit in the front on the way home.”

Their gazes whip around to see where Sam is looking, the brightness in their faces spiking when they see the flower covered hill rising up out of the field before them.

They glance at each other and take off running immediately, laughing.

Their Big lumbers behind them, shaking his head as he watches them race forward, barefoot and the grass whipping their bare legs.

Dean reaches the top a split moment before Castiel, but Castiel doesn’t seem too bothered. He stops beside where Dean is jumping around and just flops over onto his back, laughing brightly as dandelion seeds fly up all around him and a cricket lands on his tummy. Sam reaches them just as Dean flops down beside Castiel, more seeds flying up as they giggle, winded.

Sam sits down above their heads, leaning to kiss them, because how could he not when Castiel is smiling so hard his eyes have crinkled shut and the sun has brought out the freckles on Dean’s flushed cheeks. He also pulls out a towel so they have somewhere to put their bare butts when he has them take off their underwear to dry.

Dean blinks at him, wide eyed as he glances around. “Right here?”

“What? You’re just a little boy,” Sam answers, laying Castiel’s Mickey Mouse briefs beside his shirt and pants. “It’s not a big deal yet.” Though he flushes hot, Dean does as he is told.

In Tupperware in the bottom of his backpack, Sam has goldfish, apple slices, and three sandwiches – cut into little triangles.

They eat, occasionally with Sam hand feeding them their food just because he can’t resist when they’re all sweet and giddy like this. When they finish, they lay back, looking up at the sky, picking out shapes in the clouds until the clouds start to fade and there’s nothing but bright blue you almost have to squint to look at comfortably.

Dean isn’t sleeping exactly, when he runs out of things to say, but he does close his eyes and rest. He’s warm in the sun and Sammy’s hand is in his and this is nice. This isn’t a silence that needs to be filled so he lets it fill him instead; the quiet of them breathing together means they are with each other and that is enough. Their undies are mostly dry when Sam makes them stand again, stretching out.

“Ok, kids,” Sammy says, smiling and brushing the grass out of Castiel’s hair. “Let’s start heading back.”

“Do we have to?” Dean says. He is getting a little cool and they don’t have very long until sunset, but he likes this. He looks around at the tall grass and listens to the quiet, filled only by bird calls and rustling leaves. When he looks back up and sees the dandelion seeds stuck in Sam’s messy hair, the love in his eyes, his heart stumbles a bit; he’s not ready to leave. Dean and Castiel start pouting as if on cue, coming to stand together and give their best puppy dog faces.

Sam rolls his eyes at them though he smiles. “Am I going to have to chase you down?” he says threateningly and, understanding his meaning, they shriek and start running.

They chase each other around, Sam calling out all sorts of threats they’d love for him to follow up on. Dean gets caught and swung around to the ground, Sammy growling and nibbling at his chest until Dean laughingly tells Castiel to get a “magic dandelion”. He blows it on Sam’s back and suddenly he can’t see, has to find them only by the sound of their feet in the grass and their smothered giggling. When he finally grabs them both – sweaty and wiggly and breathlessly happy – he declares that they are his and he’s never, ever letting them go!

They make him promise and he says it all again, kissing their faces.

He helps them step back into their undies and bottoms – decides there’s no point in shoving their dirty feet back into their shoes – before they head back to the clearing where they parked. There are a few other people there now, which makes Castiel and Dean get a little clingy, but Sam just holds them closer. The others seem just as content to ignore Sam for their own groups as Sam does to ignore them for his littles. He gets Dean in the front seat and lets Castiel sprawl out in the back.

Sam opens all the windows as they’re pulling off, cranking up Radio Disney.

It is the nice kind of cool out now and the sunset is casting the world into fuzzy oranges and purples.

 Sam is shirtless with an arm resting on the car door, his hair whipping all around his smile. For the first few miles, Dean is content to bounce along to the music and point out road signs and everything else on the side of the road, but he pauses when he turns to look at Castiel. He finds their baby with his head tipped back against the car door, staring up at the nearly cloudless sky, the faint light of the brightest stars beginning to show. His eyes are far away and his finger is in his mouth; he looks very soft and Dean is suddenly very sad to be so far away from him.

“Dee,” Sam says, smiling without taking his eyes off the road when Dean snaps to look at him instantly, “You can get in the back now if you want.”

Dean feels happy little butterflies turning over in his tummy and he twists in the seat. Castiel only coos at him, shifting over agreeably to rest his head on Dean’s arm instead of the hard plastic of the door. They look up at the sky rushing past together, listening to Sam sing along softly to the radio.

Dean doesn’t expressly remember falling asleep, but when the car pulls to a stop, he wakes up instantly. “Sammy?”

“Right here, bud,” Sam says, leaning his head in the open window, hair dangling over them like a mobile. “Gotta go inside now.”

Dean looks up in confusion at the entrance to the bunker looming behind Sam as he moves aside to open the door.

Castiel whimpers sleepily, but when Sam prods him, he shuffles around and goes instantly into his arms. Dean stands on heavy legs, blurrily letting himself be lead inside. Sam drags their clothes off with the same care he always does, kissing and tutting at them when they fuss. He strips down as well and ushers them all into the shower. It’s not all the fun of a bubble bath, but he still manages to get them to laugh for him as he scrubs them down with soap that smells like candy strawberries. Their job of washing him is a little messier, but he submits himself to it happily.

They dry off quickly because it’s a little cool inside and get into their pajamas. Sam looks wonderful in the t-shirt they made for him – with their hand prints traced over his tummy and SAMMY written in glitter across the chest – and they can’t help but hug him before he sends them off to pick a movie while he makes food.

Dean and Castiel raid all the bedrooms and drag every pillow, stuffie, and blanket they can find out to the main room in front of the sofa. Sam only laughs when he sees them seated in the mound of fluff, setting their chicken chili mac and grape juice on the coffee table. When they finish eating, Sam can tell he is dealing with two very sleepy littles, but he lets them try to finish the movie until Dean starts snoring.

When Dean is nudged awake, he blinks, startled, but when he looks up to whine, he can see Sammy is a little tired, too. They all had a long day and Dean needs to be a big boy for a few more minutes. He mumbles and gets to his feet agreeably, tugging Cassie along with him while Sam shuts their plates in the fridge to deal with tomorrow. Dean finds the bubble gum tooth paste and puts it on both their tooth brushes, though Castiel is clearly struggling to stay awake and brush at all. Sam comes in just as at they finish up and hands Winkle to Castiel.

“You want to sleep in Sammy’s bed tonight?” he asks gently, rubbing their backs. He chuckles when Dean yawns before he can even answer, Castiel’s head bobbing his agreement. “Go ahead, babies, I’ll be right there.”

Dean and Castiel are nearly asleep by the time they snuggle down under the blankets, but they fight it just long enough for Sam to click off the lights and slide in behind Castiel, tossing his arm over them.

“Wuv you,” Castiel says, turning into Sammy’s chest.

“Love you, Sammy,” Dean says, pressing along Castiel’s spine so he can grab Sammy’s shirt.

“I love you, too, I love you, too,” Sam whispers back, and Dean can hear the smile in his voice. “Did you have a good time today?”

“Uh-huh,” Cas mumbles back.

Dean nods even though Sam can’t see him. He thought he would be a lot more scared, but Sammy was there with them the whole time and nothing bad happened. He’s only tired from how much fun he had, which is so rare it almost makes him want to cry. Not out of sadness, but out of how much one good day can do. He’s exhausted and it feels great. “Yeah, Sammy,” he says, drifting off. “Today was real fun.”

“I’m glad,” Sam huffs out a laugh, stroking Dean’s side and kissing Castiel’s forehead.

The Outside isn’t always so bad, Dean thinks as he falls asleep.

It’s big and it can be scary, but if the outside is that big and has that much space, the inside must be real small and cozy. The inside must be packed tight with warmth and love. The things, the _people_ he can touch and wrap his arms around must be really special.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading…I hope you enjoyed it. I’m wishing you lots and lots more enjoyable things. In fact, if you like hugs, this is me sending you lots and lots of virtual hugs. People are care and are standing with you, always.


End file.
